The euro rose against the US dollar on Thursday and headed for a second quarterly gain as Greece passed crucial bills to avert immediate default and on expectations that eurozone interest rates will rise again next week. Month-end flows also supported the euro, helping propel it to a three-week high above $1.45. The euro also climbed to a 15-month high against a broadly weaker sterling and jumped to a two-week high versus the Swiss franc.
The euro climbed to a high of $1.45388 on trading platform EBS and last traded at $1.4520, up 0.6 percent for the day. The euro is on track for a 2.6 percent gain this quarter and an 8.5 percent gain in the first half of the year. The euro rose 0.6 percent to 90.33 pence, having hit a 15-month high of 90.70 pence, the strongest level since March, 2010. It rallied 1.4 percent to 1.2213 Swiss francs. The dollar slipped 0.2 percent to 80.60 yen, on track for a loss of 3 percent this quarter and a loss of 0.8 percent for the first half of this year.